The Football Coaching Life Podcast

Ante Juric has worked with Australia’s National Women’s and Men’s Teams, has been National Technical Director for Women, and has coached a range of national junior teams. As Head Coach of Sydney FC Women, he has made five Grand Finals in a row! As Head Coach of Sydney Olympic in the NSW NPL he has just won the Premiership!

This conversation is a wonderful insight into Ante Juric, the man, and the coach.

Ufuk Talay, Head Coach of the Wellington Phoenix, talks about his football coaching journey and the importance of coaching without compromising on your playing style and philosophy.

This is an insightful reflection of Trevor Morgan’s long coaching journey as well as the challenges he currently faces as Australia’s National U17 (Joeys) Coach and National Technical director.

Kenny Lowe is currently the Director of Football at ECU Joondalup in the Football West NPL, where he coaches the first team and the juniors. This is in his spare time as he is the Principal Mechanical Engineer for Wood.

He had 10 clubs in his 300 plus, professional and semi-professional career in the UK, before reluctantly accepting the role of Manager at Gateshead, where his love for coaching and player development began.

This conversation is a wonderfully open look inside of Kevin Muscat’s football coaching journey and the significant people and moments in it and the wisdom he has gained along the way.

‘Musky’ as he is affectionately known in Australia has just kicked-off his second season as Manager of Yokohama F Marinos in Japan’s J-League. After he took over from Ange Postecoglou in 2021, the Marinos finished runners-up in his first season.

Aurelio Vidmar has recently returned to Australia from coaching at BG Panthum United in Thailand League One.

As a player, he had a remarkable 500 plus game professional career in Australia, Belgium, Netherlands, Switzerland, Spain, and Japan, and finished playing back in Australia. Over 260 games were with Adelaide City in the National Soccer League. And of course, he was a member of the ‘Golden Generation’, playing 44 times for the Socceroos.

His coaching journey began in Australia with Adelaide United as Assistant to John Kosmina, before taking on the Head Coach role and finishing runners up in both the Hyundai A League and the Asian Champions League in 2008 and 2009.

Aurelio then became Assistant Coach of the Socceroos and Head Coach of the Olyroos from 2010-2016, and was U20 Head Coach in 2012. He also had a short stint as caretaker Socceroos Coach in 2013.

Leah is the Head Coach of the Young Matildas and the Future Matildas, which she combines with teaching at Westfield Sports High.

Her love for the game began in the Blue Mountains in New South Wales with Wentworth Falls Warriors, and then Macarthur Rams U14 Boys, where she was the only girl in the team. Her career has involved earning caps for the Matildas as a player, and coaching with Football New South Wales, at the National Talent Centre (NTC) Program, with West Sydney Wanderers, serving as Assistant Coach of the Matildas, and she also went to the Rio Olympics and the World Cup in France as a scout/analyst.

Alen is the current Head Coach of the Philippines Women’s National Team (the Malditas, yes that’s correct!), and is preparing them for the 2022 AFC Asian Cup, which is being held in India. The Philippines will play in a group with Indonesia, Thailand and of course Australia (the Matildas).

Michael Valkanis was most recently the Assistant to John van’t Schip as the Greece National Team Coach. His coaching journey began at Adelaide United with the youth team and then as an Assistant Coach with the first team. A new opportunity took him to Melbourne City to work alongside John van’t Schip and then a brief spell as head coach before joining John in Holland with PEC Zwolle. This was followed by the move to Greece with the National Men’s Team. He firmly believes that there are many Australian Coaches that are good enough to work overseas.

Belinda Wilson began her football journey in Byron Bay on the far north coast of New South Wales, Australia. She is currently enjoying autumn in Zurich, Switzerland where she is the Senior Technical Development Manager of Women’s Football with FIFA. A remarkable achievement for a young Australian Coach and Administrator.